Ruth Braunstein, Principal Psychologist and EMDR Therapist
Welcome and I’m pleased to introduce myself: An EMDR Therapist, Principal Psychologist and founder of Wellbeing Psychology Sydney.
I have vast experience helping adults recover themselves, build resilience, experience wellbeing and bounce back quicker from life set-backs.
Growing up ‘different’
My family is from overseas and I grew up ‘different’ in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. I sought out intercultural experiences. My personal and professional journey led me to return to study as a mature age person to fulfil a dream of helping others.
My philosophy and values
As a psychologist, I enjoy sharing skills, knowledge and strategies with others to enhance their quality of life, sense of meaning and purpose, and relationships with loved ones. Clients often report to me that communication and wellbeing in the family has improved since they began seeing me.
I believe we can bring compassion and gentleness to ourselves and each other. Clients tell me they find me very approachable.
My philosophy is “We are all in this together”: this business of being human.
Our current world and life changing experiences under the COVID pandemic reinforce this message.
Among the things I like about being a psychologist, are the high ethical and professional standards to which the psychology profession, national health boards and our clients hold us accountable.
Helping adults bounce back
Since the mid 1990’s I have focused on understanding and treating the pervasive negative effects of trauma.
During my postgraduate education in psychology at Gippsland Campus (Monash University), major research I undertook with Dr Sue Burney, investigated the role of early childhood trauma, abuse and neglect in developing core persistent negative self beliefs and unhelpful coping strategies. These can keep us ‘stuck’ in self defeating habits and patterns.
The research investigated a promising treatment approach to transforming these negative ‘self’ beliefs and behaviours. My clinical practice today integrates a number of treatment approaches which I tailor to fit each individual.
These approaches are often described as mindfulness based and trauma-informed. The work is strongly grounded in creating experiences for clients to observe and ‘befriend’ their minds and body sensations leading to improved self mastery and confidence in making healthy decisions in the moment, and not reacting to life.
Among the trauma-informed approaches I am able to bring is Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing or EMDR, which is recognised as a treatment of choice for trauma by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Feedback-Informed Treatment
Additionally, I incorporate feedback-informed treatment to maximise individual engagement with the process of treatment, to shape the direction of treatment and to measure meaningful outcomes of treatment.
I am hoping to blog more about these terms: trauma-informed, mindfulness based and feedback-informed treatment, in future blogs.
I look forward to an opportunity to work with you, or to have an initial consultation with you.
Contact me for a brief no obligation consultation
You are welcome to contact me if you have any questions about how I work, or anything at all. No obligation free brief consultations (10 minutes) are also available by appointment. See the Contact Us page for details of how to contact me or send me a message on the web. Consultations are offered by secure Video conferencing or telephone, in response to COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you for your interest.